The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Enemies within?

    Enemies within?

    A confounding string of terror acts suggests presence of saboteurs among state actors

    Understandably piqued by the suspected sabotage that allegedly facilitated the abduction on November 17 of about 25 schoolgirls from a government school in Maga community, Zuru emirate, Kebbi State, Governor Nasir Idris has raised the alarm that enemies from within are working to undermine the President Tinubu administration.

    There are certainly justifiable reasons for the strong terms in which the governor expressed his reservations about the way credible intelligence received by the state government about the impending attack on the school by bandits was handled by the security agencies, and there is the urgent necessity for the military authorities to respond quickly to the posers raised by the governor.

    This is in the interest of continued public trust and confidence in the capacity of the armed forces to effectively prosecute to a logical conclusion the ongoing protracted war against assorted acts of insurgency against the Nigerian state.

    Describing the abduction as part of a conspiracy against the sustenance of democracy in Nigeria, the governor related to a delegation led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Tajudeen Idris, which paid a sympathy visit to the state, details of actions taken by the state government to safeguard lives and property in the school. According to him, “As a responsive government, when we received intelligence on a possible attack, we summoned a security meeting. The security agencies assured us that all was well and that personnel would be mobilised to the school. The military was deployed, but they later withdrew by 3 a.m., and by 3:45 a.m., then the incident happened. Who authorised the military to withdraw? How did security personnel pull out at such a critical time?”

    We agree with Governor Idris’s query: How could large numbers of bandits move so easily on motorcycles and other vehicles, kidnap, and successfully evacuate their victims without being impeded by any security personnel?

    His words: “How can over 500 bandits be moving on bikes on our highways without being checked? We are doing our obligations to the security agencies. We provide them with logistics, bought over 100 vehicles for them but their security architecture is not working. If we knew they would leave our girls for the bandits to take away, we wouldn’t have listened to the advice they gave us to deploy security personnel. We would have just shut down the school. I think some enemies are working to truncate this government and the federal government; and the House must do something, especially about the lingering security situation in the country.”

    The questions posed by the governor are particularly disturbing because the latest acts of terror perpetrated in schools and places of worship across Kebbi, Kwara, Borno and Niger states followed closely on each other and appeared coordinated.

    Does this then presuppose a wider degree of infiltration of our security agencies involved in the anti-terror war than is widely assumed? So alarming is the danger posed by the possibility of insider collusion with the terrorists to wage insurgency against the state, if true, that we expect the military hierarchy to speed up its ongoing inquiry on the matter.

    Surely, it should not be difficult to ascertain to which persons the intelligence obtained by the Kebbi State government was passed; which troops were deployed to protect the school; who led the assigned men and who gave the order for the withdrawal of the soldiers and under which circumstances.

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    The investigation being reportedly undertaken by the military authorities cannot be open-ended; it must be carried out with dispatch, the truth ascertained and sanctions imposed on indicted persons if necessary to serve as a deterrent.

    This is particularly so because the lives of officers and men engaged in the war against terror will continue to be endangered if informers and fifth columnists are embedded within the fighting forces and are in a position to pass on critical information on operational plans, routes and capacity to the enemy.

    Quite pertinent in this regard, for instance, is the tragic death at the hands of Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists, of Gen. Musa Uba, Commander of the 25 Task Force Brigade, Damboa, Borno State. The general and his troops as well as members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), had reportedly just completed a successful patrol around Wajiroko in the Azir–Multe axis of Damboa Local Government Area when they were ambushed by the terrorists forcing the Commander to order a tactical withdrawal while calling for air support.

    Did the terrorists have a foreknowledge of the movement of Gen. Uba and his troops enabling their being surprised by the ambush? In which circumstances was the Brigade Commander left in isolation by his men and was surreptitiously trying to make his way back to base before he was located by the terrorists, who were apparently on his trail, and brutally eliminated?

    Officers and men putting their lives on the line in the anti-terror war will be unable to give their best in defence of the country if they harbour fears of being betrayed by enemies within.

    If it is true that some of the terrorists who are adjudged repentant and sufficiently de-radicalised are absorbed into some roles in the anti-terror war, this practice should be thoroughly reappraised and possibly jettisoned. It is too great a risk to assume that some of such elements will not retain residues of sympathy for their erstwhile comrades in terror.

  • Marred monuments

    Marred monuments

    Planned renovation of Ojukwu Bunker, war museum a service to history and tourism

    Abia State Government says it has approved plans for comprehensive reconstruction and retrofitting of the Ojukwu Bunker and the National War Museum in Umuahia – two historical monuments of vital national significance. The state executive council, last week, explained that the project would be pursued based on an agreement between the National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM) and the state Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Creative Economy.

    Information Commissioner Okey Kanu told journalists in Umuahia that the move aligns with Abia State Governor Alex Otti’s vision to transform the state’s cultural, historical and creative landscape. He said: “The innovation and upgrade of the facilities will modernise both the iconic heritage site, enrich and restore visitor experience to the centre and reposition the bunker as a leading tourist site in the state and country.”

    He added: “This intervention reinforces the state government’s unwavering commitment to preserve our history while elevating the state’s tourism potential. Also, it will ultimately and further provide employment and business opportunities for the people of Abia.”

    Kanu’s Arts, Culture and Creative Economy counterpart, Matthew Ekwuruibe, corroborated the planned refurbishment of the national monuments, saying the state was working closely with the NCMM and Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy to finalise a Memorandum of Understanding on the project. Ekwuruibe noted that federal processes caused the delay in commencement of the renovation project because both facilities belong to the Federal Government. But now, the state has reached the stage of finalising its memorandum with the NCMM and the Art, Culture and Creative Economy ministry at the federal level. According to him, the work should commence shortly, especially as the project is a key campaign promise of Governor Otti.

    Ojukwu Bunker is a historical site in the Abia capital adjoining the National War Museum – both of them linked to the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), and the late secessionist leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who at the time was an Army Colonel. Renovating the monuments will be a big service towards preserving national memory and historical documentation.

    Following the declaration of Biafra as a sovereign state by Ojukwu on May 30, 1967 and the outbreak of the civil war on July 6, 1967, Enugu was named capital of the seceding nation. The rebel capital naturally faced an onslaught from Nigerian troops, with Nsukka, a small town about 48 kilometres from Enugu, being the first to fall.

    After capturing Nsukka, Nigerian forces marched toward Enugu and Biafran soldiers attempted to slow them down by cutting down trees and digging trenches across their path. But the fortified federal troops began bombarding Enugu on September 26, 1967; and despite Ojukwu’s plea for people not to abandon the city, Enugu fell on October 4, 1968, with Ojukwu narrowly escaping.

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    The war, however, wasn’t over. With Nigerian forces having taken Enugu, Ojukwu relocated the secessionist capital to Umuahia, a relatively remote town deep in Biafra land and more than 50 kilometres from the eastern commercial centre, Aba. It was from Umuahia that Ojukwu coordinated the Biafran war from 1968 till April 22, 1969, when the town fell to Nigerian troops and the rebel capital was moved to Owerri.

    Less than a year later, Ojukwu fled Nigeria to Ivory Coast to signal the end of the two-and-a-half-year war that killed more than two million people. Some 56 years now after the secessionist leader fled his Umuahia base, which served as the Biafra State House and is currently known as Ojukwu Bunker, the monument lies in acute dilapidation, along with the war museum said to be the only war museum in the West African sub-region.

    Visitors to the monument reported that anyone going to the bunker for the first time would miss their way, even with the aid of Google map, because of the nondescript ambience and the fact that there was no signpost or activity to suggest that the white-painted one-storey building was the bunker. It is, perhaps, no coincidence that the now abandoned Abia home of jailed leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is less than one kilometre from the bunker.

    According to tourist accounts, the famed bunker is a war apartment located 26.9 feet below the ground within the one-storey Biafra State House. The state house itself has a big living room on whose walls hang pictures of Ojukwu in his Biafran Army uniform, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Gen. Murtala Mohammed, a map of Nigeria, a map of Biafra and photos of Biafran children afflicted with Kwashiorkor. A tour guide was reported recalling to his clients that more than a million Biafrans died of hunger. “War is not good. No one who experienced war will ever ask for it again,” he added.

    A 20-metre-long roofed passage leads to the bunker on the door of which is an inscription that reads in part: “The bunker was originally called the ‘Subterranean Office of the Government of Biafra.’ After the war, it was renamed ‘Ojukwu Bunker’ by members of the public. It was built within 90 days from April to June and is 26.9 feet deep. It consists of a parlour, secretary room, kitchen, bathroom and store.” A tour guide said the builders were South-easterners in their early, mid and late 30s.

    Tourists reported circular perforations on the concrete wall of the bunker said to be openings leading to an inlet pipe that supplies air from outside. A very narrow passage that cannot accommodate two people walking side-by-side and dimly lit with yellow bulbs is the accessway into the bunker that has a living room, which a tour guide said hosted secret meetings late at night. The living room has no furniture and the walls are pale, yet it retains an overwhelming aura of magnificence. In the room is reportedly a large portrait of Ojukwu, with pictures of the late Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, and ace poet Christopher Okigbo also hanging on the wall. Also in the room is an iron safe built into the wall, which tour guides said was where Ojukwu kept secret Biafran documents.

    Behind the living room, the secretary room and bathroom were three tiny cells with a metal bar and a tiny window where prisoners of war were kept. Ojukwu’s friend and Yoruba soldier who chose to fight on the side of Biafra, Colonel Victor Banjo, was executed on September 22, 1967, after he was found guilty by a Biafran military court of allegedly plotting a coup against Ojukwu.

    That was before the Umuahia period, but his fate might have foreshadowed the experience of some inmates of the bunker cells. Emergency exits provisioned for the bunker are by way of 26.9 feet-high iron ladders built inside concrete walls at its two ends.

    We argue that the dilapidation of the Ojukwu Bunker and the war museum reflects the tattered state of Biafra memory in our national history. That should not be the case, and the NCMM is blameworthy for defaulting on its obligations and allowing the monuments to fall into neglect.

     In countries that place a premium on preserving their national history, they not only maintain monuments like war museums as tourism money spinners, but also as citadels of intellectual inquiry. The Nigerian Civil War was a watershed in our nationhood journey and all repositories of information about the unfortunate era must be preserved for present reminder and the information of future generations. Who knows, such might even be a strong enough dissuasion to younger ones from revisiting the hazardous path. It will serve as a rubric of rigorous conversation, self-reflection, restraint and appreciation of history.

    Abia State Government deserves commendation for its intervention. But the project mustn’t be left to Abia alone; it needs the support of other governments in the Southeast zone that bears the primary historical impact of the monuments. And the Federal Government, which is the actual owner of the monuments, must not keep to the sidelines; it is high time it empowered the NCMM and its tourism and creative economy ministry to live up to their mandate.

    Importantly, care must be taken to ensure that the rehabilitation work does not just romanticise the civil war. Rather, it should tell the whole story: the bravery, ingenuity, and nationalist passion as much as the horrors and pain. Only the total story will truly capture history and teach the lessons necessary for the future.

  • Dry season wheat farming

    Dry season wheat farming

    • Sustaining the initiative will help reduce import bill

    Wheat farmers in the country must be excited about the Federal Government’s N160bn output value plan for the 2025/2026 dry season wheat farming: at least 80,000 of them will benefit from it.

    Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Abubakar Kyari disclosed this target during the recent flag-off of the Subsidised Agricultural Inputs Distribution of 2025/2026 Dry Season Wheat Production Programme under the National Agricultural Growth and Agro-Pocket Project (NAGS-AP), in Jere Local Government Area, Borno State.

    Nigeria officially launched its first large-scale dry season wheat production initiative as part of the NAGS-AP Project in November 2023. The aim was to increase national wheat production to enhance food sovereignty and reduce dependence on imports.

    The initiative has continued to record gradual success.  In its first year, that is 2023/2024, the minister recalled: “a total of 107,429 registered farmers were supported with critical subsidised inputs, resulting in an output valued at N474,628,000 billion.” He added: “During the 2024/2025 dry season, 279,297 registered farmers received support, with an output valued at N893,750,004 billion.”

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    States covered by the programme include Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano and Kebbi. Others are Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, and Zamfara.

    Cross River, which was included in the programme last year, is the first state in the southern part of the country to benefit from it. The idea is to expand wheat production in the south, to strengthen national capacity and diversify production across the country’s ecological zones.

    Wheat is not the first agricultural product for which Nigeria has officially launched dry season farming. Crops like rice, maize, and cassava have been part of past dry season initiatives under the same NAGS-AP.

    But the current emphasis on wheat is understandable. The crop is about the highest contributor to the country’s food import bill. Nigeria spends over $2bn annually on wheat imports alone, which puts significant pressure on the country’s foreign reserves.

    Current wheat production level may not yet be sufficient to eliminate the country’s significant dependence on imported wheat but it is helping somehow in reducing the pressure on its foreign reserves. Some of the government’s initiatives have saved the country about $500m annually on wheat import.

    We commend the dry season initiative that now enables wheat farmers to be busy all-year round. We eat daily; therefore, farming should not be seasonal or dependent on the vagaries of the weather. With irrigation and technology, the barriers militating against all-year farming can be reduced, if not eliminated.

    A country like Israel has taken advantage of technology to overcome its overwhelming challenges of water scarcity and poor land conditions to emerge as a world leader in agriculture. With political will, we can do the same.

    It is heartwarming that the farmers are not just provided with seeds and other inputs. They also have trained professionals like Agricultural Extension Agents to guide them on modern agronomic practices and provide continuous field-level advisory services; and Fertiliser and Seed Quality Control Officers who, the minister noted, “will be mobilised to ensure that all inputs delivered to farmers meet the required standards, thereby guaranteeing higher productivity and improved yields.” These are essentials for good farm yield.

    We urge the Federal Government to sustain and indeed improve on NAGS-AP. The fact that the initiative involves women and young people who play vital roles in our agricultural workforce is something to cheer, especially with their equitable access to inputs, training, and opportunities.

    We don’t know why this year’s beneficiaries are fewer. Given the scheme’s overall benefits to our economy, we want the Federal Government to look into this, going forward. Also, we recommend that state governments embrace all-year-round farming.

  • Slow poison

    Slow poison

    • Strict regulation of businesses recycling car batteries crucial to protect health of Nigerians

    Lead is an essential element in car batteries. However, it is expensive to mine and process. Companies therefore prefer the cheaper alternative: recycling. It is this cheaper alternative that YouTube calls ‘slow poison.’

    Battery recycling reports tell stories that touch the heart, especially in places like Africa and other parts of the world where there are no standards in the operations of the companies that engage in the business.  

     Last week, Daily Trust, in a detailed exclusive, highlighted some of the consequences that unregulated and crude battery recycling practices pose to the environment and, by extension, the society. The health complications that arise as a result of contamination of the environment – air, soil, and water – through severe lead contamination, sometimes lead to death.

    The story was titled ‘’How battery recyclers are killing Nigerians.’’ However, it is not only in Nigeria that car batteries are wreaking havoc. The problem is most pronounced in the country mainly because law enforcement is weak.

    The Examination (a non-profit newsroom that focuses on public health stories, but it is not a newspaper in the traditional sense) on November 18, also published a detailed story on battery recycling, touching on virtually all its aspects. 

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    It is significant that even though neither The New York Times nor The Examination is based in Nigeria, their joint report, titled “Recycling lead for U.S. car batteries is poisoning people,” cited Nigeria as a leader among nations where unorthodox battery recycling is an issue.

    Ogijo, a boundary community between Ogun and Lagos states, was prominent in the story. The report is instructive: ‘’Poisonous dust falls from the sky over the town of Ogijo, near Lagos, Nigeria. It coats kitchen floors, vegetable gardens, churchyards and schoolyards.

    ‘’The toxic soot billows from crude factories that recycle lead for American companies.

    ‘’With every breath, people inhale invisible lead particles and absorb them into their bloodstream. The metal seeps into their brains, wreaking havoc on their nervous systems. It damages livers and kidneys. Toddlers ingest the dust by crawling across floors, playgrounds and backyards, then putting their hands in their mouths.’’

    The report contained interviews with residents, some of whom are already suffering from the deleterious effects of the harmful processing.

    It is difficult to fault either the Daily Trust report or that of The New York Times and The Examination. This newspaper, and indeed several other newspapers, have had cause to focus on Ogijo and some other parts of the country on matters of environmental pollution.

    The truth of the matter is that Nigerians generally have a problem with both domestic and industrial waste disposal. There have been a series of complaints regarding industrial pollution that is slowly killing Nigerians.

    Battery recycling is not bad per se; the issue is the method. Rather than go for the greener but less hazardous way of doing the recycling, businesses involved in it go for the cheap but hazardous alternative.

    This is where law enforcement comes in. Yes, we need the businesses, but they should not exist at the expense of the people. The regulatory agencies must realise that life has no duplicate and do their work conscientiously. Where there are offenders, the authorities must identify and prosecute them to serve as a deterrent to others.

    One of the residents of Ogijo, Muri Korede, was quoted as saying, “If this were in other countries, they would not allow this.” So, why should we continue to allow it?

  • Costly abandonment

    Costly abandonment

    •It’s time to do something about abandoned Federal Government properties

    The House of Representatives recently set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the over 11,800 abandoned federal government properties and projects across the nation. The properties are estimated to be worth nothing less than N20trn in market value today. The motion that seemingly set off the alarm was raised by the House Minority Leader, Kingsley Chinda, representing Obio/Akpor federal constituency of Rivers State.

    Chinda recalled that in 2000, the Presidential Implementation Committee on Federal Government Properties was set up but sadly, two and a half decades later, the committee is yet to submit its final report. In his opinion, nothing speaks so eloquently about the lack of accountability and transparency when it comes to national assets than this act of non-responsiveness of such a committee.

    It is sad that a report by the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors had identified 11,866 abandoned federal projects across the country, representing approximately 63 per cent of all projects initiated since independence. Some of these properties are: the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos; the Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi, Lagos; the Nigerian International Hotel Suleja, Niger State; Millennium Tower, Abuja; the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) building in Abia State; the National Library Headquarters, Abuja; the Nigeria Newsprint Manufacturing Company, Kaduna; the Kaduna Textile Building; the Nigerian Aluminium Smelting Company, Delta State.

    We are amazed at the array of iconic and valuable projects that have suffered neglect and abandonment across the country. This says everything negative about the value successive governments in this country have placed on national assets and projects across the nation.

    In many countries, the preservation of such iconic assets is taken very seriously because in most cases such historically relevant assets represent not just history. They are preserved as national treasures not just as beautiful edifices but for the value they add to the socio-economic lives of the people.

    A place like the National Stadium in Lagos today stands as a national disgrace. The stadium didn’t just represent a great geographic space; it stood as a national rallying point that the citizens have a sense of attachment to. It represented a rallying point for sporting activities in the nation and had in the past been the flagship for national, sub-regional, continental and even global sports competitions. Beyond sports, it provided spaces for other socio-political activities due to its centrality and accessibility. Today, the stadium has become home to street urchins and parts of it have been occupied by some private individuals who are reaping profits from national assets.

    Today, the most popular sports, football competitions, are now mainly hosted by Akwa Ibom State’s Godswill Akpabio Stadium built by the present Senate President when he was governor. This puts to shame the successive governments at the federal level that could not renovate the National Stadium for the same function, given the employment and revenue that would definitely accrue from its functionality.

    Today, Morocco, a smaller African country, has seemingly overtaken Nigeria with its huge investment in sports infrastructure. They have been hosting several FIFA-organised games. They hosted the FIFA Women World Cup; they would be hosting AFCON this December. They are on their way to co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain.

    The investment in sports infrastructure by Morocco has become a huge inspiration for the country’s youths and a huge source of national pride and global relevance. Their national team made history at Qatar 2022 World Cup by reaching the semi-finals, becoming the first African and Arab country to reach the 4th place in a World Cup. Their government has shown understanding of the power of infrastructural development and maintenance. There are no disadvantages to valuing national assets.

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    We feel that a huge part of the responsibility of governments’ taking care of the security and welfare of citizens comes from the way national assets are handled. This is because most of the abandoned projects like the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) buildings built by the former military leader, Ibrahim Babangida’s administration across the country have all become enclaves for miscreants and robbers that are a menace to communities. Even if many analysts felt that the buildings were poorly thought out, as long as they had been built, the onus is on every government to improve on the buildings and increase their functionality for the people.

    We consider the abandoned assets and keep wondering how successive governments never thought of making those buildings functional: federal secretariat, aluminium smelting plant, national library, hotels, and textile companies etc. in a country that has been in dire financial straits since the end of the oil boom in the 1970s.

     It amounts to crass irresponsibility and financial recklessness to keep building new elephant projects that are often abandoned by opposition governments while ignoring solid structures that are of huge economic and social value.

    However, while we commend the House of Representatives for pointing a torch at those valued national assets, they must do more than that. They have committees that can collaborate to see that the right things are done. Being in the House should not be all about raising matters of urgent national importance. The real work is in following through and for each member to focus on the assets in their own states and make sure their oversight function covers such projects.  They are national legislators for a reason. While they come from specific constituencies, their larger constituency is the nation.

    The relevant ministries like those of works, sports, education and housing must work together to track and account for all the thousands of assets across the nation. In cases where some unscrupulous civil servants or politicians have either appropriated or sold some or parts of those assets, the relevant government agencies must not just retrieve them but also prosecute the offenders. National assets always stand in history as generational legacies with a stamp of care for posterity. Nigeria’s case cannot be different.

  • Fuel tax

    Fuel tax

    • Better coordination necessary to avoid controversy

    That the issue of 15 percent ad-valorem import duty on imported Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) generated mixed reactions among Nigerians was perhaps to be expected. Indeed, the manner in which it was communicated was akin to stoking a needless fire of controversy.

    President Bola Tinubu had, in a letter dated October 21, addressed to the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), approved the 15 percent tax following a request by FIRS chairman, Zacch Adedeji, for the government to apply the tariff to align import costs with domestic realities.

    The duty, to be applied to the Cost, Insurance, and Freight (CIF) value of the product, would have increased petrol pump prices by approximately N99.72 per litre.

    Even as Nigerians were still locked in the debate over the import of the development in terms of what it bodes for the industry, the consumer and the larger economy, more especially given its inflationary impacts, the NMDPRA released another statement, saying “the implementation of the 15 percent ad-valorem import duty on imported Premium Motor Spirit and Diesel is no longer in view.”

    While that was being digested, another letter from FIRS, dated November 7, titled “Deferment of the Commencement of the Implementation of the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) and Diesel Import Duty,” offered further clarification that the implementation is only being deferred until the first quarter of 2026. The development is said to be in response to a detailed request submitted by Adedeji, following extensive strategic consultations with key stakeholders to assess market readiness and ensure a smooth and orderly rollout of the duty.

    Adedeji had in the referenced letter to the president stated that the deferment would also create a window for government agencies to monitor local refining performance in the first quarter of 2026 and align the tariff’s rollout with verified production data and consumer price trends. The adjustment, it went on, “aims to ensure that when the levy eventually takes effect it will be both economically sustainable and socially responsible, in line with President Tinubu’s directive that all fiscal measures must safeguard citizens’ welfare while maintaining market discipline.”

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    We hope that the latest position of the government settles all things. It should, hopefully, help douse tensions in view of the raging concerns about the capacity of the local refiners to meet domestic demands, particularly now that the Christmas season – a season of hyperactivity – is approaching.

    At a broader level, the clarification would appear to have balanced concerns as expressed by Nigerians. One is the need to protect and to encourage the growth of the sector and thus reduce the nation’s dependence on fuel imports and, by extension, to boost the value of the naira; the other is the need to prevent another cycle of inflation that will attend to its implementation at a time the inflationary pressure has only begun to ease.

    There is a lot to say about the manner in which the policy was communicated, which left much to be desired. Overall, the impression conveyed was that the FIRS didn’t do its homework in the first instance. Thus, it sought and obtained presidential approval only to realise the need for proper consultations after. Even the sector regulator, the NMDPRA, would appear to have been blind-sided in the process.

    Surely, had proper consultations been made, the approving authority, in this case the president, the relevant stakeholders, and indeed the citizens, would have been spared the ensuing controversy. We expect better coordination going forward.

  • Overdue reforms

    Overdue reforms

    • Our constitutional democracy necessitates remodelling the military

    With the Armed Forces Reform Bill currently before the Senate scaling second reading on November 12, a major step has been taken towards modernising and improving the legal context within which the Nigerian military operates in accordance with the tenets of the country’s constitutional democracy.

    Sponsored by Senator Abdulaziz Yar’Adua, the proposed legislation seeks to repeal the existing Armed Forces Act, Cap A20 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, “and re-enact a modern, constitutionally compliant and operationally responsive legal framework for the Armed Forces.” According to Yar’Adua, “This Bill is not merely a legal update. It is a statement of our national commitment to a disciplined, professional and accountable military. It aligns our armed forces with constitutional and international standards while ensuring justice within the ranks.”

    We agree that the current law which came into effect in 2004 and updated preceding military decrees enacted in the 1960s is long overdue for a comprehensive review to reflect new operational challenges and realities confronting the military, developments in the polity and society, and the evolution of the law, democracy and the constitution in Nigeria.

    A cardinal feature of the new bill, which underscores its significance, is the proposed replacement of the current court martial system by providing for trial of military personnel for offences as well as convictions in civil courts.

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    Under the current law, special military tribunals are established to try disciplinary and criminal offences committed by members of the armed forces through the court-martial process. Convened by a higher military authority or commanding officer, a general court-martial handles grave offences and can impose severe punishments including death sentences while the special court-martial deals with less serious infractions of military discipline.

    This creates the impression of a dual legal process, one for the civil populace and the other for the military, which reinforces the deeply ingrained notion, especially within the military, of the uniformed person’s superiority to ‘bloody civilians.’

    Providing for judicial review of military tribunals’ decisions, the bill also reinforces the constitutional authority of the elected President as Commander-in-Chief to command the military while the Chief of Defence Staff takes responsibility for the daily operational administration of the armed forces.

    It empowers military lawyers to represent the armed forces in civil courts, thus reducing both costs and delays, and abolishes the situation in which reports or enquiries serve as a basis for convictions without trial by a court of law. The law also prohibits the recruitment of persons below the age of 18 into the armed forces in consonance with the Child Rights Act and global best practices.

    Other provisions of the bill include redefining offences and ensuring proportionate punishment, replacing obsolete fines with percentage -based penalties pegged to salary levels and extending rights and protections to non-commissioned officers to improve morale and promote fairness.

    Improving the legal context within which the military operates in accordance with the demands of democracy and constitutionalism will enhance transparency, accountability, and efficiency in the administration of the military with beneficial impact on operational efficacy.

    Most important of all are the potentials of the reforms to deepen and strengthen the critical notion of military subordination to civilian authority and constitutionalism. This is because of the continued culture of arrogance and disdain for civilians by persons in uniform.

    However, it will take much more than legal provisions for the necessary change in consciousness of military personnel. Rather, it would also require persistent enlightenment and re-education of military personnel to appreciate the fact that their weapons are procured through public funds, including taxes by the populace, and that the uniform does not confer superior status on those who wear it.

    Equally important is the need to re-educate the civilian populace on the equality of all citizens, military and all other people, before the law. This is because large numbers of civilians also tend to exhibit an attitude of inferiority to military personnel, which is a continuing residue of our long experience with military dictatorship.

  • A new way

    A new way

    •We have to rethink how we approach bandits

    The task to secure Nigeria has come into bold relief more than any time in our history. It was even given more impetus by the gratuitous benevolence of an American president who has threatened our sovereignty by designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern and with the potential threat to send its military to wipe out those who have precipitated what some have described, often without evidence, a Christian genocide.

    As if a fatal response to President Donald Trump’s threat, we have experienced a series of untoward acts of brigandage and terror. One was the incident in Kebbi State where 25 students were whisked away by a band of bandits who stormed the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area. That incident dazed citizens across the country and even internationally. It led a United States lawmaker to claim the students were Christians in his attempt to cement the prejudice of a pre-conceived notion of Christian genocide. 

    We had not absorbed that tragedy as a people when in Kwara State, a sleepy town known as Eruku grabbed headlines: bandits thundered into a church and killed some worshippers. They took away 38 others who were rescued by state actors.

    From Kwara State, attention swivelled to Niger State, where a Catholic School, St. Mary’s School in Papiri community, was targeted by another storm of bandits. They abducted about 265 students, 50 of whom escaped.

    There have been stories of sabotage and even foul intentions to reinforce the American president’s allegations as though, within us, are quislings who want a self-fulfilling prophecy to encourage the violation of our sovereignty. Whatever the case, it is obvious that the country’s present way of securing our people needs special attention.

    One of the major problems is the number of security personnel. Nigeria is the 26th largest country in geographic size with 923,768 square kilometres. This is a massive size. Yet we have less than 250,000 soldiers and about 400,000 police. Our population is over 230 million citizens.

    It is clear we do not have the personnel numbers to keep us safe. In his lecture recently at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Uba Sani, the governor of Kaduna State, asserted that one could travel for over three or four kilometres in this country and not catch a sight of a uniformed officer or security personnel.

    What this means is that the nation has been, for long, relying on a number of factors to make us safe. One, that local institutions for conflict resolutions will do without recourse to a police officer. Two, the fear and mystery of local lores, laws and traditions spell punishment for wrongdoing and wrongdoers. It is often said in traditional philosophy that a witch cried last night and a child died this morning, and who does not know the connection? It is accepted that such trepidation of traditional and mystical justice restrained people from disturbing the peace. Three, the belief that our people will not do anything as wayward as to turn their villages and towns into warzones or dereliction. In the north, the relationship between settlers and indigenes used to be one of mutual respect and even affection until recently. This applies to areas like Plateau State, Benue State and southern Kaduna.  Four, no conflict was so intense that it could not wait for a police officer to be deployed even if it took days for the law enforcement officer to arrive. Five, access to high-powered rifles or guns was far-fetched and even unthinkable at a time. 

    We must note, however, the invasion of our communities, especially in the north by marauders and herders from outside, and they have found kindred spirits in our communities. Also, Islamic ideologues have exploited a facile society to plant subversion in the hearts of the young.

    All of those factors have been turned on their heads by the realities of today. Their glorious institutions of self-help or autonomy of state, local government and federal authorities have since been replaced by a wave of local impunity. This has been worsened by perennial disconnect between welfare and governance; and individuals, especially the young, have decided to take laws into their own hands.

    The realities of those multiple factors in many communities have meant one point: the security architecture of today has become effete. We can no longer depend on less than 700,000 men to secure 230 million people. The recent report that, of the almost 2000 entry points into the country, only 84 are manned by security officers has opened up dialogue over our old sense of security. We could abide such lapses 20 years ago. Bad people did not flood this country from then. Today, they do. And they succeed because they secure local accomplices who do so in deference to failure of governance.

    We are seeing today that a lot of resources will be needed to fill the gap. It means we need to study how many police officers we need. The deployment of soldiers indicates an emergency because soldiers are supposed to secure the borders and fight wars, not maintain civil peace. The new Chief of Defence Staff, General Olufemi Oluyede, made this point at his Senate confirmation hearing. He affirmed that the police should be strengthened to maintain peace within our borders.

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    This brings into focus the call for state police. With the flurry of bloodbaths, few now argue against its necessity. So, we have to accelerate the move to make it a reality. It will be the task of states to provide the huge shortfall in police personnel to secure their domains. But even in the interim, the state governors have a crucial role to play. One of the essential necessities is finance. In the past couple of years, the state governments have received an unprecedented amount of money in monthly allocations. This should help them. For that same reason, Lagos State blazed the trail over a decade ago and was able to quell its restive streets.

    But we have an example in Kaduna State, where violence was the breath of life. It is like an oasis in the north. If one state can do it, others can. Why they have not when one state can has remained a conundrum. It is either they are not competent, or find the violence useful. In Plateau State, the former governor, Simon Lalong, kept a sense of quiet for long stretches because of local arrangement and understanding. Under the present dispensation, violence and fear have prevailed. The state schools have been shut down in fear of attacks.

    Other than deploying enough personnel and state police, we need the marvel of technology. Gizmos exist today to track every inch of the Nigeria territory. This is today’s intelligence machine. If we had such in Nigeria, we could have tracked the bandits in Niger, Kebbi and Kwara states.

    It is expensive but this is inevitable. The lawmakers, state governments and the office of the National Security Adviser ought to come up with wide-ranging solutions to enrich the police with far more men, and defence chiefs with technology solutions. Banditry is costing us. So, we need to pay the price in imagination and money, not in blood and loss. Governor Sani described “cooperative federalism,” as his strategy: working with the centre for the periphery.

    The ultimate solution lies in the hands of the state chief executives, and the Federal Government can provide the cover. Governors know their home states.

  • Abuse of judicial process

    Abuse of judicial process

    • Its manifestation in the PDP crisis must be probed

    The conflicting court orders leading to the last Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention in Ibadan, Oyo State, was an embarrassment to the judiciary, and we urge the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate if there was any abuse.

     In a suit filed by some state party officials, the Federal High Court presided over by Justice James Omotosho, among other pronouncements, issued an order that the planned National Convention be put on hold, until the procedure laid down by the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the PDP Constitution for election of delegates is followed.

    As a counter-measure, some party members approached a state High Court in Ibadan, presided over by Justice A. L. Akintola, to obtain an interim mandatory injunction, directing the PDP leadership to hold the convention as planned. The judge also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to attend the convention and observe the election.

    Feeling disenfranchised, former governor of Jigawa State Sule Lamido, approached a Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, to obtain an order stopping INEC from recognising the convention, until Lamido is allowed to participate.

    Again, the PDP political redoubt in Ibadan returned to Justice A. L. Akintola, to reaffirm the pendency of their interim order compelling the relevant officials to hold the convention as planned. The judge granted the order and the convention which the other factions had described as a jamboree held, without INEC monitoring it.

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    From the foregoing, it was clear that the contending parties treated the courts as instruments to achieve their various contending interests; and sadly, the courts appeared to be willing tools, which is why we demand an investigation by the NJC.

    As if the cynical abuse of the judicial process was not enough embarrassment for the country, the party stalwarts and their supporters later engaged in a battle over who should occupy the PDP secretariat, in Abuja. The chairman purportedly elected at the contested convention in Ibadan, Dr Kabiru Turaki (SAN), with the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed, and that of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, went to the secretariat only to meet the faction loyal to the secretary of the party, Sam Anyanwu, holding what they claimed was the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting with the Board of Trustees of PDP.

    The situation led to a free-for-all. The controversially elected chairman of the party at the Ibadan convention, while speaking to the press, claimed that apart from the persecution of Christians in Nigeria, parties are also victims. He called on the President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, to intervene. We wonder whether the learned silk was not aware of the subsisting court orders obtained by his party members to stop the convention.

    The videos of the free-for-all showed the governors of Oyo and Bauchi with the controversial party officials all starry-eyed, while acting in defiance of subsisting court orders. By their own accounts, the challenges bedevilling the party are from outside, yet all the litigants in the court cases were members of the party.

    Those purportedly suspended at the convention in turn also professedly suspended those who had suspended them. To stem further mayhem, the police have sealed the WADATA plaza, the PDP secretariat.

    Sadly, the PDP Board of Trustees, which should have remained above the crisis, took sides; and its leadership was amongst those suspended by the factional NEC, led by Mohammed Abdulrahman. We wonder who would save the PDP, with most of its notable leaders in one of the contending factions.

     Perhaps untangling the legal conundrum should be the first step, so that a legitimate leadership can make genuine efforts to rehabilitate the party.

  • Nigeria first

    Nigeria first

    •That a bank allegedly demarketed Made-in-Nigeria autos is counterproductive

    A client alleging that his banker is demarketing local products, in the same economy the bank trades and gets its sustenance, is well and truly dispiriting.  Yet, that’s the allegation coming from Oluwatobi Ajayi, CEO of Nord Motion Ltd, a Nigerian auto plant.

     Ajayi accused Stanbic-IBTC, his bankers, of allegedly declining to finance the buying of two units of “Max” pickup, an auto product of Nord Motion Ltd, but instead recommended for the client foreign-made equivalents, which purchase the bank said it was ready to finance.

    Now, this is a client-banker tussle. Whatever might be the genesis of this dispute, it is better resolved by the feuding partners, to their mutual benefit.  After all, it’s business: no permanent friends; only permanent interests.

    However, Ajayi’s response to his clear hurt struck a chord for rebuilding our economy — far beyond a client-banker dispute. “The President aims to grow us into a US$ 1 trillion economy,” he told The Cable. “Nigerians want to buy Made-in-Nigeria products, we are working very hard to produce world-class vehicles, but some banks who should play the role of credit facilitators,” he rued, “are displaying open prejudice against locally made vehicles.”

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    Beyond a soured micro business relationship, such a mindset — of running down made-in-Nigeria products but over-glorifying foreign ones — rings true of the Nigerian elite, at the macro level.  That is the bother for us here.  Such a mindset hugs strategic economic ruin — and is so heady about it.

    For starters, it’s business treason and economic genocide.  Serenading foreign goods but subverting home products is tantamount to killing the local economy and aiding foreign labour. But that’s even only as a collective.

    On the individual level, it’s economic suicide!  It’s not unlike the silly parasite that works hardest to kill its host.  Isn’t the host’s death a certain death for it too?  So, such an attitude is clearly self-defeating.

    To be sure, banks are no parasites. They intermediate as custodians of investable funds — take from those with excess cash; lend to ventures and persons craving cash, help to shore up economic activities, thus earning their own living. 

    So, if banks demarket their surest source of sustenance — a local, vibrant manufacturing base — how sustainable is their trade in the long run?  That is the ringing poser.  That it’s a rhetorical question underscores the clear folly of such a mindset.

    It’s precisely because of this adverse attitude that the government is pushing the “Nigeria First” policy.  After the de-industrialisation of the structural adjustment programme (SAP) years, which started in 1986 but has continued under different guises since then, “Nigeria First” is a refreshing response. So, all local economic players — and even foreign interests investing in this economy — must embrace it as enlightened self-interest.

    Aside from “Nigeria First,” the Tinubu administration is also pushing a mutually reinforcing policy: to embed a credit economy.  On paper, Nigeria has a huge market.  But that market is, at best, a sleeping one.  A credit economy would jerk awake the sleeping consumer millions, and give local manufacturing a healthy jab in the arm, so long as it goes with radically improved power supply, to make local goods competitive against imports.

    It’s a formula that has worked for the United States and can also work for Nigeria.  You don’t need a bulging pocket to acquire necessities:  such as house furniture, TV and music systems, cars, and even the most durable of them all — mortgage for homes.

    The banks stand at the threshold of this alluring prospect.  Already, they are rooted at the hub of economic activities, as lenders.  But if they must double, triple or even quadruple their business, they must be in tune with the US$ 1 trillion economy plan by 2030.  Nevertheless, that boom won’t materialise until they wean themselves from a hankering to finance foreign products at the expense of the local manufacturing base.